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Applied Bachelor's Degrees

Request for Information (RFI)

Applied Bachelor's Degree ProgramsPurpose: Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 3333.051, enacted pursuant to Amended Substitute House Bill 49 of the 132nd General Assembly, directed the chancellor of higher education to establish a program under which community colleges, state community colleges, and technical colleges may apply to offer applied bachelor’s degrees. The Chancellor established the program through Directive-098 and will, in accordance with the Directive, periodically issue a Request for Information (RFI) to open an application process for institutions.
The first request for information from Ohio’s community and technical colleges interested in offering applied bachelor’s degrees was released on September 26, 2017.

Program Submissions

The ODHE staff reviewed all RFI submissions for compliance with specifications identified in ORC 3333.051 and for capacity to offer the proposed program.. The programs below were found to be consistent with the minimum requirements and were posted for a 10 business day public comment period that ended on Friday, December 22. Public stakeholder meetings for the proposed programs were held on January 19, 2018 and January 22, 2018.

Programs Approved to Move Forward

The Chancellor considered the information obtained through the campus responses to the RFI, the written comments obtained during the 10 business day public comment period, and the comments made during the public stakeholder meetings. The Chancellor also consulted with the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, the Inter-University Council of Ohio, the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio. Applied Bachelor’s Degree proposals that were approved by the Chancellor to proceed to the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and through the full ODHE program approval process were found to be compliant with all requirements identified in ORC 3333.051 and devoid of compelling evidence to delay, defer or deny the program as shared via the public comment period and/or the public stakeholder meeting(s). Those programs were:

Programs Deferred

Applied Bachelor’s Degrees that were not recommended by ODHE to proceed to HLC for further consideration require further review and analysis before a final decision can be made. Further review and analysis on deferred programs is occurring in two primary areas, as follows:

The extent to which the proposed Applied Bachelor’s Degree is duplicative with other higher education offerings in the region.

The extent to which the workforce need of regional business or industry as identified in the program application can be addressed by leveraging existing higher education offerings within a reasonable geographic proximity.